History

History of The ACC Liverpool Group

Built and launched in time to help Liverpool celebrate its European Capital of Culture title in 2008, The ACC Liverpool Group has already forged an enviable reputation for delivering prestigious events – as its short history will attest.

The arena and convention centre opened their doors on 12 January 2008 with the official opening ceremony for Capital of Culture, launching a year-long celebration and signalling the culmination of a decade of regeneration in the city. It cost £164 million to build, financed by Liverpool City Council, English Partnerships (now the Homes and Communities Agency), the Northwest Regional Development Agency and European (ERDF) funding. It is owned by Liverpool City Council and The ACC Liverpool Group Ltd was set up as a management company to run it on the council's behalf.

BT was the naming sponsor of the convention centre from 2008 until the end of 2018, during which time the venue’s name was BT Convention Centre. It is now ACC Liverpool following the end of the sponsorship agreement.

Building the Dream

Plans for developing under-used land at Liverpool’s Kings Dock first emerged in early 2000. Initial reviews considered a range of options for the site and a concert arena and convention centre facility was identified as most likely to make the biggest impact on employment, the local economy and Liverpool's national profile. Plans were drawn up for the facility's construction, and in May 2005 Bob Prattey was recruited as The ACC Liverpool Group's Chief Executive to lead the building of the team to manage, market and operate the new centre.

Delivering Economic Benefit

Liverpool event campus was identified as key to boosting Liverpool's image as a city in which to live, work and invest. We play a key role in the city's economic growth, actively supporting Liverpool, Merseyside and North West-based employees, businesses and supplier base. In our first year alone, we hosted more than 200 events and 618,000 delegates, and made an economic contribution to Liverpool City Region of more than £200 million. Since opening, our campus has attracted over 8 million visitors to 4,340 events across our entire site and generated £1.9bn in economic benefit for the local economy.

Prestigious Events

The Labour Party Annual Conference, BBC Worldwide Showcase, the Royal College of Nursing Congress, the Liberal Democrats spring and annual conferences, the National Cancer Research Institute, the NHS Conferation and Revo (previously known as BCSC / British Council of Shopping Centres)have all held events at ACC Liverpool. They appreciate all that it has to offer and have made us their venue of choice for their major events.

Exhibition Centre Liverpool

We developed the waterfront site with the construction of Exhibition Centre Liverpool. This state-of-the-art adjoining facility allows The ACC Liverpool Group to offer even more flexible event space. It takes the venue to the next level, providing an even more flexible venue to stage a variety of event types, including exhibitions, conferences and standing concerts.

Connect

Delivering world class concerts, family, comedy and sporting events, M&S Bank Arena Liverpool is one of the most prestigious entertainment venues in the UK and is a proud part of the ACC Liverpool family.

The addition of Exhibition Centre Liverpool to existing venues M&S Bank Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool makes The ACC Liverpool Group family the only purpose-built, interconnected arena, convention centre and exhibition centre in Europe.

TicketQuarter is a full service ticketing agency set up by the team at ACC Liverpool, offering a complete end-to-end ticketing service for the entire events industry.